Where the Dirt Road Ends
by WildWestRose
Summary: Teenagers in a small town, where dreams are crushed and once you arrive there's no way out. She's sixteen, he's nineteen. They share the same longing to leave the small town and make their life bigger but they don't even know each others names. AU
1. Chapter 1

_I'm new to writing Fanfiction but I would prefer it if you didn't baby me, tell me bluntly what's wrong with my story and how I can make it better and I'll get right on it! I really hope you enjoy reading it, I've had fun writing it and I know its AU and a lot of you might not be too keen on it but I'm so happy you decided to give mine a shot._

_Rating: Well right now it is K-K+ I think, but I'm quite sure it might be bumped up a little bit!_

_Warning: For this chapter? None, I don't think so anyway, no spoilers unless Bruno Heller decides to make the Mentalist teenagers in a small western town!_

_Disclaimer: I don't want to own it; I just enjoy playing with it. It's the four year old playing with dolls coming out of me! However currently I wish some of you lot owned it, I love your ideas, and currently I'm liking you're Season 4 ideas better than what's panning out on T.V._

_Inspiration: Too many country songs, title comes from Where the Blacktop Ends by Keith Urban and I started writing this after listening to Dirt Road Anthem by Jason Aldean for about the 80000 time! Also Luke Bryan and Jake Owen are big inspirations for this. The Mentalist is the biggest inspiration, more importantly Jisbon-Jello-J/L-whatever they're calling it now!- and all the writers I've read already are big inspirations!_

_Wow this is a long Authors Note, well thank you for reading!_

_Georgia xxx_

_Where the Dirt Road Ends..._

_Chapter 1-Part 1_

_Intro- Following the blazing light and the sound of voices_

"Sir?" The voice of a young boy woke him from his sleep. He rubbed his eyes open to see the person in which the voice was coming from. A boy no older than nine before him, long dark curls around his pale freckled face glasses covering what must have been the greenest eyes he'd ever seen.

"Yes?" He asked sleepily, holding back a yawn and sitting up stretching his knotted back and wincing at the pain.

"Can I buy this?" The boy asked, pushing a book about airplanes before him.

"Sure, 7 dollars please." He nodded; typing robotically numbers into the cash register before the safe pinged out, getting stuck halfway.

The boy handed him the seven dollars, a collection of change from his piggy bank and he jiggled the till open more slipping the handful of change inside a small compartment.

The boy gleefully took the book without a bag or a receipt and skipped out of the shop to join a family of five who waited outside.

A blonde woman who stuck out dreadfully against the sea of raven hair, who towered over the man and who wore a tight grey skirt suit, much too formal and business like for this small town. She was hanging on the arm of a man who would have been about 5'8" but compared to the 6 foot pair of legs beside him looked about four foot. He wore a checked shirt over a white wife beater and had jeans with mud caked over them. He looked like he fit into this town, his greasy brown hair tied back in a piece of shabby elastic, day's worth of stubble on his cheeks. There were four kids, the slightly geeky boy who was showing his other two identical looking brothers the hardback book, smiling as he flipped the pages but knocking his younger brothers hands away if he went to touch a page. They all looked the same, the same dark hair and pale freckled skin. The same alluring green eyes. The one in glasses looked to be the middle brother at about nine whereas the younger one looked like a toddler while the older one he guessed was almost a teenager. The other kid was about his age, the only girl. She had a heart-shaped face framed with the darkest brown hair out of the family, she was small but it suited her. She was looking straight at him through the murky windows, her green eyes shining through the brown tint of the windows, she had freckles over her face but they weren't as prominent as her brother's had been. Her mouth formed a perfect pout, dusky pink lips and cherry-tinged cheeks. She was wearing jeans that had been cut to mid thigh and brown work boots. Her family apart from the blonde looked like a usual in this town, a farm family with a truck and chickens. He was bored of those types now; he saw them every day coming in trailing mud with their boots, hiding their faces with cowboy hats. They were a cliché; he hated being one of them.

But she was different. The way she looked, the way she seemed to distance herself.

He waved at her and flashed her a sleepy smile, wishing he hadn't spent all night at old Sam's barn night Sunday. She saw him and turned around, bending down and talking to her brothers. Ignoring him.

Well that was new.

No girl had EVER ignored him.

_**WTDE**_

"Daddy we're out of feed for the horses." She called from the doorway, being careful not to step any further from her place on the step in case she got mud on the carpet.

"Well take the truck and go down to Harvey's then." He replied to her sharply from the floor above.

"I'll be back in an hour." She replied as sweet as she could muster. She hated going to Harvey's and she hated driving the truck.

"Pick up something for tea, I'm not cooking tonight." He added.

She sighed and muttered under her breath about him never doing the cooking and closed the door. Wandering over the dirt track to the rusting old truck, god only knew what colour it was twenty years ago but now it was a sort of greyish brown with red patches that might be trace of what the truck looked like in its finer years or it could simply be fancy coloured rust. She took the handle and placed a foot on the bit beside the door and pulled, it reluctantly fell open allowing her to get in. Clambering into the seat she hauled on the broken strap to heave herself in, she closed the door behind her, the vibrations shaking the truck. She turned the key in the ignition and felt the truck roar into action, like a volcano coming awake after years of dormancy. She hated driving the truck, the cracked glass on the windshield made it almost impossible for her to see anything and the seatbelt was broken, both because of one of her father's late night drunk driving.

She pulled out of the farm, it was only small and she'd lived there all her life. She was bored of it now, of the routines and of the people. She wanted to be outside the small town. She didn't want everyone to know her name she wanted to be able to walk down the street like a ghost, invisible yet mysterious.

She drove tiredly along the road, each move instinctual. Her mind was at a complete blank, there was nothing she needed to be thinking about, nothing that happened to her that she could mull over. Her life was a daily routine, nothing new, nothing hard, nothing at all.

As she turned into the side of the road at Harvey's she switched the engine off, the music if there had been any went off to and it was just quiet, with only the sounds of the town ahead.

She crossed the road, not even bothering to look for cars or trucks. Nothing ever came along the back road, even if it did she was sure she could stand in the middle of the road for a day and not be hit, nothing happened to her, she just walked the streets, did her chores, looked after her brothers. Sometimes she wondered if she was a human, if she could feel, if things did happen to her or was she just to live her life like this, swimming in nothingness.

"Hey Tessa." Harvey greeted as the door indicated her presence by brushing the bell that hung from the ceiling on a small brass hook.

"Hey." She mumbled her voice not loud enough for him to hear. She brushed a loose tendril from her face behind her ear and wandered up to the counter.

"So what can I do for you pretty lady?" Harvey grinned, despite the man being fifty-years old he hadn't spoken to her without trying to chat her up since the start of her adolescent years, she was getting sick of it. The eerie way he would try to touch her, every time he spoke it made her shiver and feel sick, just the smell of him made her queasy. The blend of grass and beet pulp with sawdust and pine mixed with the poison of his cologne.

"Three bags of Bailey are please." She asked, in a mere whisper.

"Is that all?" He asked, baring his crooked yellow teeth and his blackened tongue.

"Charge it to my tab." She said, taking a step back as he leant across the counter.

"Will do, do you need anything else?" He asked again.

She shook her head, the hair she'd had neatly tucked behind her ear loose around her face.

"Right, I'll meet you outside." He said, disappearing round the back. She let a breath out as he left and looked around the small shack at the photos on the walls. Looking for the faded black and white one she knew was there.

Everybody who had ever set foot on the western town had their picture on the wall, there was pictures of people who were long gone, both dead and left. There were pictures of the ones everyone knew, pictures of relatives you never knew. Pictures of people in long dresses with parasols standing in front of carriages from centuries ago, they were all up there, covering the walls and the roof in smiling faces and watching eyes. She found the picture she was looking for and held her hand up to touch it, the face of a woman holding a four year old girl with her husband looking over her shoulder smiling through his neat moustache. The woman had long hair, passing her waist easily. Her face was perfect; her freckles covered by a thin layer of make-up only to be found if you lived with her, her lips were in a bright smile.

Maybelline Lisbon, mother of four, wife of one, friend of all.

That curly writing beneath it read what was on the stone angel in the cemetery.

Meeting Harvey outside she helped him shove the sacks into the bed of the truck.

"You're a strong little thing." He smiled, licking his lips running a fat greasy hand over her pale, toned arms.

"I have to go." She gasped, pulling her arm away and opening the truck door. Quickly throwing herself into the seat.

"See you soon." He waved.

She felt sick as she drove along the street, feeling the heat of his fingers on her skin, it felt dirty and she was disgusted with herself, despite the fact she hadn't done anything. She braked suddenly as she saw a tall form run out onto the road, her breath hitched in her throat as she lost sight of the man. Shoving open the door she ignored the cry of the driver behind her and the beeping of his horn.

"Are you alright?" She asked, walking round the front of the truck.

There was nobody there.

_**WTDE**_

"So how was the shop today?" The taller blonde man asked, changing into his pyjama's on his single bed.

"Sold one book to some kid." The younger one replied, yawning as he turned away from his father in his own bed across the room. Turning onto the side that wasn't coated in purpling skin due to being hit by the truck.

"One book?" He asked the normal sound of annoyance in his words.

"It's a farming town Dad, no-one buys books."

"This book shops been in this town for over a Century, I'll be damned if it closes now."

The younger one sighed, closing his eyes and pulling the covers over his shoulders right up to his chin.

"The devil comes to collect at the end of the month." He whispered under his breath.

_**WTDE**_

"Go to sleep." She yawned, standing at the doorway of the large room where her three brothers sat on the middle bed beneath the duvet with the new book and the torch.

"But we're not tired." Jamie complained, pulling the duvet away from their heads so they could see her and fixing his glasses high onto the bridge of his nose.

"I don't care; you need to go to sleep. Daddy wants you to do all of your chores by breakfast." She replied.

"But I don't want to be a farmer; I want to be a pilot." Jamie answered.

"I don't want to be a farmer either; I'd rather be a lawyer." Dylan nodded.

"Me either, I want to be a dinosaur!" Tommy grinned, pulling the sleeve on his blue pyjamas to de-wrinkle the green dinosaurs that decorated it. "Rawr!"

"I don't want to be a big sister or a farmer, but that's what I'm stuck being. So come one, get into your beds." She ordered; she hated saying that. She wanted Jamie to be a pilot, she wanted Dylan to be a lawyer and she wanted Tommy to be anything he wanted to be, just maybe not a dinosaur. He wanted the world for the three boys, she wanted for them not to be stuck here like she was.

The boys reluctantly moved off the middle bed, Tommy going to the little bed nearest the door, Jamie taking off his glasses and lying down on his bed, fixing the covers and Dylan to the bed at the end where he sat down and looked at her.

"What do you want to be Tess?" He asked, his green eyes staring intently at hers.

"A police officer." She replied.

"So why don't you go?" He asked, "When I'm sixteen like you I'm getting out, I'm going to Law School a million miles away from here. Why don't you?"

"If I left, there would be no-one to look after you." She said, switching off the light. Biting her bottom lip to subside the tell-tale tightness in her throat and the sudden glaze of her eyes.

It silenced any further questions Dylan had and she padded through to her box room, sitting down on her too small bed and bringing her face to her hands. Dark waves cascading past her face as sobs racked throughout her body, muffled by her hands. Her shoulders jolted as each tear brought on a new emotion inside her, adding to the growing collection that was ready to burst out of her little bottle inside her.

_**WTDE**_

Making sure his Dad was asleep he made his way towards the door of their motel room, clad in simple jeans and a white T-shirt. He closed the door carefully waiting until he heard the faint click before skipping down the steps and onto the board that went along the motel until he got to the ramp that led to pavement. The hollow ramp clunked as his shoes hit the mahogany painted wood and creaked under his weight. Once on the pavement he sped up just a little, he was already five-minutes late and he didn't want to be any later. At the crossroad he went left into the forest where he could already hear the party. The branches cracked as he stepped over them, the dead leaves crunching as they met his brown loafers. The clearing came into sight, it being lit by the blazing bonfire in the centre.

"Patrick!" The tipsy red-head cheered as he came through the gap in the trees, she wasn't drunk. Not in such, she'd only had half a Dixie cup of strawberry wine but it was enough for the private schoolgirl to turn her intellectual mind to jelly. Her hair was down and wavy, falling past her shoulders and they would forever joke that in a few years time she'd have enough to hang over a tower in await for her prince, atop the mile length hair she wore a shoddy cliché brown cowboy hat. She was wearing a white dress, stained green and brown by the log she sat on with Wayne, lying in his arms and a faded denim waistcoat. There were about fifteen others in the small area, sitting on logs, standing beside the fire. All with a Dixie cup in hand occasionally taking sips or gulps depending on the case.

"Well Hey Gracie." He smiled, earning a glare for the use of her childish nickname, one he'd coined her with when they were four. "Wayne, Cho."

The two boys nodded in return not saying much at all, but Wayne regularly stroking Grace's red locks.

"So are you comin' home now Grace?" He asked, sitting by her feet precariously balancing on the edge of the tree.

"Yes, for a month. I'm so glad, all those prim talking school girls from the city bore me."

"Too girly for you?" Wayne chuckled, spreading his fingers out so her dainty little ones could fit through the spaces, looping them together.

"They wear pink nail-polish." She scoffed. "Are you still working at your Dad's bookshop Patty-cake?"

"You mean book storage facility, no-one buys the books anymore." He shrugged ignoring the nickname she had created for him when they were four to get back at him for calling her Gracie. Taking the cup of sparkling liquid a blonde dressed in a yellow top and shorts offered him.

"Are you working tomorrow?" Cho asked, speaking for the first time in the last hour.

"Yeah, but y'all can drop by the shop and hang out there." Patrick suggested, patting his lap for the blonde girl to sit in.

"Do you still have the basket of muffins?" Wayne asked, licking his lips in memory of the creamy softness and the sugary taste of the muffins that sat in a basket by the shop door.

"There might be one or two left." He chuckled, wrapping an arm around the thin yellow-clad waist of the blonde he knew.

As he listened to Grace and Wayne discuss Wayne's diet he focused on the Asian man in the corner. He was glancing around the crowds, waiting. Tapping his foot with his hands shoved nonchalantly in his pockets, the dark crimson t-shirt he wore was different to what he usually wore. A little more gripping along his well-toned chest and arms, the colour a little more daring from the white or blue he usually wore and really it wasn't something Cho would ever choose. A dark crimson t-shirt wasn't the style of the Asian who forced everyone to call him by his last name because he hated is first name, who did the weekly shop, who wore a straight face if someone was burning to death in a clowns suit right in front of him, who couldn't care less about what he looked like or even what people thought of him. Who had close friends but no friends or enemies, who came to this town on his own, leaving his mother and father at only the age of 12.

The blonde on Patrick's knee playfully moved her tongue along his jaw line to his earlobe. This was a regular thing at these parties with Angela, who'd taken a liking to him when they'd met. They were sort of boyfriend and girlfriend it just wasn't exclusive and no-where near like Grace and Wayne's. He wasn't the type to be official and proper. He was nineteen for crying out loud, he had the rest of his life to find proper girlfriends. He ran his hands up her body, feeling each curve and dancing his fingertips along her bare flesh that the small yellow vest revealed. Enjoying what the blonde was doing to him he went back to focusing on Cho, he saw a tall girl walk over to him and his face light up, she had short-cropped black hair and wore an old worn black dress with knee high boots. She grabbed his hand and dragged him behind them all, into the world of tree's and darkness. But before they disappeared Patrick saw the grin on his friends face, it was short and looked quite weird on him but it reflected just how happy he was with the mysterious new girl that wouldn't be mysterious for much longer.

_**WTDE**_

If she listened really closely she could hear the shouts from the Wood Party a mile away, anybody who was anybody went to it. It happened every night in the Season Holidays and it lasted all night. She'd never been to one for she'd never been invited to any of them and she didn't know anyone her age in this town. Dylan had been invited to one of them this year, one of the nineteen year olds who started the tradition-a group of four- had a little sister who was Miss Popular of her year and had started up a Wood Party for her age that was before the older ones but she hadn't let him go. She wanted to let him go, let him be what she wasn't but she worried. She knew about the older ones, the alcohol, the bonfire and the "kissing" and she hadn't wanted Dylan to go to something like that, despite the fact she knew there would be no bonfire or alcohol and there definitely wouldn't be that sort of kissing they did but she would always picture her little brother beside all those rowdy teens and she'd worry so she didn't let him.

She went to town parties, where they played guitar and they sang round a bonfire, where there was adults and kids together and she enjoyed them. She enjoyed the cliché sound of a small town band, she loved the dancing they would do, she loved how the men would dress in cowboy gear and would swing their woman like everyone would imagine if you said line-dancing. She did wish she had someone to go with though, she usually sat out or danced with her brothers having no boyfriend or for that matter friend to dance with.

She rolled over and tried to fall asleep but her mind was spinning, trying to conjure up images of the party she could hear going on right at that very second. Every time she closed her eyes she could see a blazing fire with happy people dancing around, people her age. In desperate need to stop the wheels turning in her head she swung her legs out of bed, not minding the freezing cold air that hit her short clad legs and grabbed clothes from her dresser. She pulled the camisole she wore in bed over her head and replaced it with a green apron top she knew was long out-dated but she loved it too much too part with and after shimmying out of the cotton pyjama shorts she slipped into the tight denim shorts she had vowed never to wear. Slipping her feet into her riding boots she picked up the leather hat that hung from her door and placed it on her head over her un-brushed curls. She tip-toed down the stairs and out of the door, before stopping just as she reached the end of the farm road.

She didn't think she'd get this far, she never had before.

Would she get there?

Would she be able to let people see her?

Or would she hide behind a tree then run home?

Vowing never to try it again but doing the same the next night.

She closed her eyes and let the wind brush over her, the light breeze dancing over her skin, flowing through her hair and tickling her bare back. She smiled and let the wind give her a new burst of confidence as she headed down the dirt road, past the rotting motel, along the blacktop road to the woods.

The shouts were louder here as her boots met with the foliage and twigs beneath her, cracking and crunching like a horror movie. She could hear singing and the sound of an out of tune guitar playing _Jake Owens Barefoot Blue-Jean Night_ it was one of her favourite songs and she happily stood still to listen to the chords of the song accompanied by the voices of wine and teenagers. She crept closer as she heard the song end, hiding behind an oak that stood tall into the night sky; she looked out from behind the bark through a tiny gap. She could see the vicious orange glow of the fire and she shadows of the people sitting together, it reminded her of an old picture of black stick figures dancing around a blazing fire that flew high above their heads.

Her vision was cut off as two people came through the gap, holding hands and giggling. She hid behind the tree with her back to the trunk, trying to regain her breathing pace. She cursed herself for being so frightened of the sudden movement and looking up at the branches and the sky above her she made the decision.

To go or to leave.

_Barefoot Blue-jean night is a truly amazing song by Jake Owens, I don't own it but I advise you to go and listen to it if you like Country Music!_

_Leave a review please, I look forward to reading criticism and points to making my writing better so feel free to write that as well as the lovely reviews! _

_xxx_


	2. Chapter 2

_Wow, I never thought I'd get this much feedback, I'm literally blown away. Thank you all for reading and reviewing/alerting truthfully I thought it would take a few months for the story to get noticed and picked up so believe me having all this is overwhelming. However I feel like an idiot for not writing more chapters before I'd uploaded the first but that chapter was like a pilot, just seeing how many people would read it and believe me you guys have shocked me so much. I thank you all so incredibly much that I don't even think there's a word. I was very scared to upload this chapter, and the message from ShunKickShunKers is the reason I sat down and told myself that I can't leave people for like 3 months without an update._

_Rating: Let's just stick with K+ right now, although I'd say this chapter's T. I'll let you decide! _

_Warning: For this chapter, none. But anyone who saw episode 4 of the fourth season will know Jane's (incredibly hot?) accent that I guess could be the one he speaks with in this story. _

_Disclaimer: I don't want to own it; I just enjoy playing with it. It's the four year old playing with dolls coming out of me! _

_Inspiration: Too many country songs, The Mentalist, FanFic writers/artists/video-creators(do they just go under artists?) who I admire so much!_

_By the way, you'll probably have noticed this ISN'T going straight to Jisbony times, there's quite a bit or hurdles to go before then._

_**WTDE**_

She woke up as the sharp rays of sunlight flew in from the window, illuminating the dancing dust that floated around the small room and casting beams of yellow on the old floorboards. The lace curtain making shadows on the lighted floor. She could feel warm arms draped over and around her bare stomach where her top had ridden up in the night, she could hear soft, masculine snores, and breath tickling the hairs on the nape of her neck, she rolled over gently not to wake him and kissed his baby soft forehead. He groaned as he woke, rubbing his drowsy eyes to rid them of sleep.

"Morning." She whispered, brushing a strand of hair away from his face.

_**WTDE**_

"Will I see you tonight?" She asked, wrestling her tousled blonde hair in a bun atop her head, lifting the air-like see through blue negligee further up her body, revealing the matching panties beneath.

"Course, have I ever missed a party?" He chuckled, buttoning up his shirt while trying to slip into his shoes. Wincing every time something touched or he strained his bruised side.

"Not a good one." She smiled, her blue eyes shining in the dim artificial light. "Are you sure you're okay? You should get that checked out."

"How long are your parents out of town?" He asked, guiding his heel into the shoe. Avoiding the subject of the truck-like purple indent on his side.

"Till the end of the holidays." She replied, standing in front of the door she didn't want him to open.

"Lucky girl." He smiled, his eyes tracing over every curve of her perfect body.

"Lucky boy." She smirked playfully, placing a manicured finger on his revealed chest.

"But I have to go now." He said, "I'm sorry Angie."

"You know most guys stay after sleeping with me." She shrugged.

"I'm not most guys." He winked.

"It's not even dawn yet." She pouted, looking out the door he successfully managed to open.

"I have to be in before my dad gets up."

"Fine." She said, crossing her arms and turning away from him.

"Sweet Dreams Angel." He said softly, kissing her on the cheek. When she didn't respond he turned away to leave until he felt her grab his shirt and pull him back in a searing, hot, goodbye kiss.

"Bye Patrick." She smiled, running her hand down his left arm.

"Bye Angela." He grinned, wandering down the concrete path into the sea of inky darkness lit by one light at the end of the road.

_**WTDE**_

She ruffled her damp hair and stuck her head through the gap of the door and the wall to see the sleeping boy in her bed. He'd fallen asleep after she'd woken him the first time and now clutching the pink pillow she usually kicked off the bed in her sleep. He looked so peaceful she didn't want to wake him but for fear of the snoring man in the next room she crept over the floor boards and knelt before him.

"Tommy?" She whispered, shaking his dinosaur clad shoulder gently.

"-Essa?" He asked, reaching out a tiny hand to her.

"Shh, I'm here. Why did you come through last night?" She asked, taking the outstretched hand in hers.

"You left, I thought you'd lefted forever." He sniffled.

"You heard me?" She asked, suddenly panicked that Tommy wasn't the only one who had heard her.

He nodded vigorously, his eyes still half closed.

"Okay, well I'm never gonna' leave you Tommy. 'Kay?" She smiled re-assuring the small boy.

"Okay. Do I have to get up now?" He asked, snuggling deeper in the covers.

"Do you want to?" She asked.

He made a thoughtful hmmm noise then answered. "It's rather cosy in here and my eyes don't really want to open much further."

"Five minutes then, until you really, really need to get up." She chuckled, wrapping the cover around him.

She smiled and watched him for a moment before leaving and knocking on her brothers' door.

"Wakey wakey." She whispered, opening the large door.

Inside the two remaining boys were lying still asleep, Jamie in a tight ball beneath the covers, his head barely poking out of the top and Dylan sprawled out on the edge of his bed, one arm and one leg dangling precariously off the edge of the bed the other two just keeping him on the bed, both his pillows and his sheets lying everywhere on the floor beside the bed.

"Wake up James." She asked, tugging the edge of his sheets as she walked across the room.

"But it's still night time Tess." He groaned sleepily, he was the only one able to form coherent sentences after being woken up, as if his brain had no need to warm up but started immediately after his mind told him to get it's lazy butt out of bed.

"No it's not. The sun's out." She smiled.

"The suns too early." He responded, lifting himself onto his hands and looking down at the pillow beneath him.

"Well get up anyway, the cows are hungrily mooing that they're starving to death because James Lisbon couldn't be bothered to get out of his bed."

"Tell them to go back to sleep." He said, sitting up on his bed.

"I can't speak cow." She said, opening the curtains.

"How did you know they're starving to death then?" He asked, popping his glasses on his nose.

"A fly told me." She shrugged, wandering over to the starfish Dylan.

"You speak fly?"

"Yip, Buzzzzzzzzz." She answered.

"What does that mean?"

"Get up and Buzz off to the shower."

"Inventive." He remarked.

"I thought so."

She shook Dylan's shoulders and waited for him to stir.

"Dylan?" She asked in a sing-song voice.

When he didn't stir she took a pillow from the floor and hit him over the head with it.

"Get up." She smiled, when his sleepy eyes flickered open.

"Go to hell." He muttered.

"Watch your language." She scolded, dragging his outstretched foot so his whole body fell to the floor with a thud.

"Ouch." He groaned, sitting up on the floor and rubbing his head.

"Quit complaining." She sighed, rolling her eyes dramatically.

_**WTDE**_

"Where were you?" The aging man greeted as he closed the door behind him.

"I was with Grace, she got back today." He lied, placing his jacket on the hook beside the door.

"At 3'0 clock in the morning?" His father asked, looking at the red numbers on the clock.

"I fell asleep." He shrugged.

"Were you having sex?" The man asked, folding his arms on the table.

"With Grace?" He spluttered. "No, dad. God no. She's my best friend."

"You can't afford to take those risks Patrick."

"What risks Dad? I'm not sleeping around, I work for a living and I have a bunch of friends."

"Getting close to people is a risk Patrick." His father stated.

"No it's not, it's what normal people do."

"You saw what it did to me." His father raged, standing up from his place. Turning to face his son, the scar covering the left side of his face showing, each red mark and purple line standing out with assistance of the two alight lamps.

Taking one look at his father he climbed into bed and switched off his light facing away from the self proclaimed monster by the table.

_**WTDE**_

"I wish you would stop washing the dishes in the bath." She sighed, watching from the doorway as her two youngest brothers 'cleaned the dishes'.

"We couldn't get the kitchen tap to work again." Jamie explained, taking a plate from Tommy who sat in the bath with his knickers and a vest on washing the dishes his older brother would pass to him in mile high bubbles.

"Well you could have just asked me to come and help, the baths for people washing, not dish washing." She chuckled, picking up a sodden Tommy from the bath, a trail of bubbles following him up.

"They're really, really clean Tessie!" Tommy smiled proudly, pointing to the dishes stacked on a towel beside Jamie.

"I can see that but next time, see if you can make them really, really clean in the kitchen sink." She smiled, wrapping a discarded towel around him.

"But you were out with the horses; we didn't want to bother you." Jamie said, looking up at her.

"I don't mind being bothered Jamie." She replied, holding out a hand for him to help him up. "Now I have a surprise, Dad and Linda are going to be away for a couple of days so we get the house to ourselves and I was thinking we could go into town today and pick up a few DVD's."

"And Sweets!" Tommy cheered, raising his hands in the air, whacking Teresa's nose.

"Ouch." She exclaimed, rubbing her red nose. "And yes, of course we'll get Sweets, anything you would like Jamie?"

"Can we go into the book shop, they had a whole shelf of books about airplanes." He smiled, his cloudy green eyes lighting up as he thought of each hardback book with gold lettering along the spine, announcing tales of flying around the world, building engines and wings. To him it sounded like magic but his brothers didn't see what he saw.

"Course." She nodded. "Where's your brother?"

"Playing with Barney."Jamie replied, gathering all the dishes in the towel together and making a bag-like thing to transport them in.

"Okay, Tommy go get dressed then find Dylan and Jamie-"She said, watching him.

"No." She shook her head and pointed to the make-shift bag he'd crafted.

_**WTDE**_

"Seriously guys?" He cleared his throat loudly as he made his way back from the storage room only to find Grace and Wayne in a very tongue-tied situation.

"Well, I bet you were doing a whole lot worse to Angela last night." Grace smirked, cupping Wayne's cheek in her hand.

"I didn't let anyone see me." He exclaimed, throwing himself onto one of the bean bags that sat around a low coffee table by the window.

"What do you see in her anyway, man?" Wayne asked, letting one hand slip higher up onto Grace's thigh.

"She's funny, she's sweet, she's hot and she's great in bed." He grinned in a teasing voice watching Wayne's eyes light up and Grace glare at him.

"Is that all you guys think about? A hot body and mind-blowing mattress dancing?" Grace asked, rolling her eyes at the two boys.

"No, course not." Wayne replied. "I love you for your sense of humour, your ideas, your plans, your traits, your red-hair, your ability to be above everybody else and still stay so sweet, your love for animals and how you're you."

"Suck up." Patrick chuckled, looking out the window to see his Asian friend walking with the mystery girl towards the shop.

"Did you find out who she was, Graceless?" He asked, alerting the couples attention.

"Elise Chaye, formally Elisianna Yun-Li Chaye but she changed her name after she came to America, she's Korean. Her mother and her fled Korea after her mother got pregnant. Her father isn't the same as the new baby's and there was some conflict between their families."

"How did you find all that out in a few hours?" Wayne asked.

"I have connections." She shrugged.

The door opened letting in a gust of cold wind, two wind-blown, red-faced travellers as well as a few dried leaves.

"Hey guys." Patrick greeted, watching the two new arrivals as Cho took the girls 'Elise' coat and hung it up where Grace's white duffel hung, Wayne's black sports jacket and his own trench coat hanging beside it.

Cho nodded deadpan and guided Elise through to their little group with a hand rested on the small of her back.

"This is Elise." He declared, sitting down with her.

"Hello, I'm Grace." Grace smiled brightly to the girl; she had always been the most friendly out of them, meeting new people was never hard for her, making friends even less.

"Hello Grace, Kim's told me a lot about you." She nodded.

"Kim?" Wayne spluttered, covering his mouth with his hand.

"And you must be Wayne, which would make you Patrick Jane." She smiled. Patrick looked at her for a moment, studying each individual detail about her all the while wondering if it was really necessary for her to say his last name.

"So Kim?" He asked, grinning flirtatiously at Elise.

"Of course, I refused to call him by Cho, Kim's much more intimate." She smiled teasingly, a cheeky glint in her eyes as she canvassed Patrick Jane. She had learnt a lot about him in the past week.

Patrick looked dumbfounded; this sweet little Asian girl was definitely not what she looked like.

_**WTDE**_

"Tess are you sure we should let Tommy hold the basket?" Dylan asked, catching three DVD's from falling off their shelf as they were hit by the metal basket which Tommy was carrying recklessly through the shop, knocking everything off the first and second shelves.

"Tommy will you watch out, give the basket to your brother and go with Jamie to pick out a film for tonight." She ordered, scanning the shelves for something remotely appropriate for a four year old but not too boring for a twelve year old.

"We don't just have to watch PG movies do we?" Dylan asked, catching up to her with his newly claimed basket.

"No after the others go to bed you and I can watch one movie of your choice." She replied, picking out a movie and handing it to him. "Will this one do?"

The boy looked it over with his green eyes, his mouth falling open as he finished reading the back.

"You'll really let me watch it?" He asked, fingering the dark cover.

"If you're brave enough." She smirked.

"Tessie!" Tommy shouted, running over towards her.

"Inside voice Tommy, what is it?" She asked, bending down to be at height with him.

"We got one! It's about pirates." He announced.

"Well put it in the basket, Little Bluebeard Thomas." She said, ruffling his long hair.

"I don't have a beard." He stated, rubbing his chin just in case. "I would quite like a blue one though."

"Wait till you're older." She chuckled, putting the basket on the counter where the young blonde sat slouched on her chair, blowing her pink bubble gum to the size of her face before chewing it again.

Wordlessly the blonde began to slowly scan the items, completely uncaring as she placed each item in a bag.

"24 dollars." She asked, Teresa placed the notes in her hand before grabbing the bag.

"Keep the change." She nodded, walking out the door followed by her three little brothers.

_**WTDE**_

The eruption of laughter finally subsided and the teenagers all looked at the floor, fearing if they were eye to eye with their friends they would restart the fit of giggles. It had been Elise's idea to start sharing some of their stories and after two rounds of every-one telling a story it had become a match for Grace and Patrick to find the most embarrassing story of the other.

"Patrick, remember in after-school club when we were eight?" Grace asked, being the first to look up.

"No." He said sharply, it wasn't an answer it was the stop button.

"Are you sure?" Grace smiled innocently.

"No Grace I don't and I don't think you do either." He said firmly.

"That psychic stuff doesn't work on me; Aunt Wanda taught me how to avoid the entrapments of psychic force."

"Psychic's don't exist Grace." Patrick announced, bored of the same argument, with his father, with strangers, with Grace.

"They do." Grace protested, "I've seen my Aunt."

Before Patrick could reply, the bell chimed and four young people walked in, the same striking green eyes and raven hair. The unforgettable blend of the family he had seen before.

Teresa felt awkward wandering into the small shop, the five teenagers her age sat chatting to each other went silent as they entered and their eyes followed her everywhere. She was yet again the odd one out, the grey duckling in the midst of white swans, the small, bruised girl standing in the crowd of leggy, tanned laughing girls. The girl forever being shoved around, by society, by her father and by herself.

Jamie and Tommy held hands and walked with their heads down to the small bookshelf in the corner whereas Dylan stood beside Teresa, standing almost protectively beside her, like a guard dog. She couldn't help but laugh in her head at how with around nine people in the room, there was such an incredible silence. Jamie and Tommy sat down on the floor beside the bookcase, Tommy tracing designs on the scratchy blue carpet while Jamie looked through a red leather book with a picture of a woman standing on an airplane. She wished Jamie wasn't such a bookworm as of this moment for she wished more than anything that they could just leave and avoid the multicoloured orbs that stared at them, monitoring their every move.

"Can I help you?" The blonde boy asked, standing up and flashing her a megawatt smile.

Silence broken.

She looked over at the two little boys and shook her head, looking like a deer caught in the headlights.

Silence.

_**WTDE**_

"C'mon, let's get you two to bed." She laughed, picking up Tommy in her arms and guiding Jamie up the stairs, thankful they had chosen to change into their pyjama's before they settled in for the movie because she knew if she had to change Tommy he would waken and not go back to sleep for hours. She placed Tommy on the bed, covering him with the blankets and kissing him on the forehead, before moving over to Jamie and tucking the blankets around his small frame, despite the fact she knew he'd throw them off and re-adjust them his self in less than a minute. She kissed him and walked to the door, whispering a soft good night she didn't think they'd hear.

"Are you sure you won't have nightmares?" She smiled, slipping the horror movie into the disc player.

"I'm sure." Dylan replied, nodding his head.

"Okay then but remember if you get scared, you wanted it on."

"I won't get scared Tess." Dylan chuckled, as if it was the most ridiculous thing in the world, he was twelve after all and that was almost grown up.

_**WTDE**_

_For Elise's name I just made up the ...ianna Yun-Li part, also the actress isn't Korean, she was born in London in England so yes she's mostly made up but I've always been miffed at how they never told us anymore about her. And yes the name Elisianna is a real name, my neighbour used to be called Elisianna-Jane._

_Thank you ever so much for reading, I trust my writing more now after all the great things you've said and I can't wait to hear back from you, I'll hopefully reply to you all too I've just lately been so busy and I completely forgot that I was supposed to reply, so here is my apology a brand new chapter that surprisingly didn't take a whole year to post! Although I'll give you 100 words to tell me how annoying one update in 3 months is. _

_So sorry! _

_Georgia! xxxx_


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